Keppel Philippine Marine to delist shares in Oct

SHIPYARD operator Keppel Philippine Marine, Inc (KPMI) is looking at delisting its shares from the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) in October as it sees no need for capital raising from the public in the near future.

In a letter to the PSE Nelson Yeo Chien, president of KS Investment, Inc, owner of KPMI, said a tender offer will be made to public stockholders who hold 83,765,568 shares at P3 per share.

The offer period will be from August 1 to September 9.

In the first quarter of the year, KPMI posted a net income of P52.93 million, 71.2% less than what was reported in the same period last year. This is despite the 2.06% higher sales revenue of P505.96 million vis-a-vis last year’s P495.70 million.

Operating profit for the first quarter amounted to P59.19 million, 51.88% lower than the same period last year due mainly to lower volume of business and lower margins for shiprepair.

Other income was also less by P16.35 million compared to last year due to finance costs on borrowings made by the company in 2010.

“The demand for shiprepair markets for both local and foreign vessels will continue to be weak as a result of a weak shipping market,” KPMI said in a report.

“There are various potential inquiries that could fill in the docking program for the third and fourth quarter 2011 for both local and foreign customers, which we are closely monitoring and endeavor to secure them,” it added.